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CES 2017: Mercedes takes customer care to the next level

However, BMW India said that it has grown 14% in its 2016 sales to 7,861 units (including 361 Mini cars) as compared to 6,890 cars sold in 2015 (6,550 BMWs and 340 Minis).

Mercedes-Benz climbed to the top of the premium segment, beating its German and other competitors in the number of vehicles delivered in the year, with strong growth posted in the Chinese and European markets, the company announced on Monday, according to Global Times.

For the Pune-based Mercedes-Benz India, this is the second consecutive year of selling over 13,000 units in annual sales and the company sounded optimistic about 2017, given the strong momentum in December and January.

The German luxury carmaker sold 13,231 units in India past year, a marginal slip from 13,502 units in 2015, buoyed by its product strategy with all the segments. The year started with diesel ban in the key Delhi-NCR market and ended with demonetisation.

On Sunday, Daimler informed investors that it sold 2.08 million Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in 2016.

SUVs were the biggest draw for buyers in 2016, topping 700,000 sales with growth of 34.3 percent as the firm introduced new models.

Bavaria-based BMW said it sold 2,003,359 cars in 2016, less than the 2,083,888 by Stuttgart-based Mercedes.

Frank Schloeder, president (act), BMW Group India, said, "The year 2016 was not an easy year for the automotive industry and that applies equally to BMW Group India". During the course of the year, developments in the Indian economy and policy framework shook the mechanisms of the auto industry.

2016 also saw the long awaited entrant of the Jeep brand in August and although sales haven't been brisk, 2017 will be an important year for Jeep with the launch of the new Compass SUV.

Folger further said that, "2016 was a year of market challenges but despite facing such challenges, it is quite satisfying for us to have made best of the opportunities that we had".

In 2016, the company saw all-round contribution from all the segments.

Mercedes had achieved its best year ever by sales for the sixth time in a row, he added.

Instead, BMW would aim for a return on sales of 8 to 10 percent, he went on, as well as unit sales growth in "lower single digits" in 2017. BMW continues to be in the third position, followed by Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). Audi had already said it sold "only" 1.87 million units a year ago, while BMW's annual sales figures haven't been published yet.